Research on Effectiveness of Vitamin C in the Treatment of Anemia in Patients with Chronic Diseases: A Case Study

Vitamin C has been shown to be useful in the treatment of anemia of chronic diseases, but there is
insufficient evidence to recommend it in the management of anemia in patient with chronic illness,
with chronic kidney disease. We performed a small control study to probe if high dose intravenous
vitamin C will raise the hemoglobin and improve the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases.
We screened six patients and the study was performed from September to December of 2015, but
one quit prior to begin the study. Their age ranges from 37 to 95 years-old, and three are male and
two female. Their mean hemoglobin went up from 8.6 g/dL to 9.7 g/dL after they received vitamin C
10 g IV weekly for 6 weeks. The CRP level had a 41.4% effective reduction and their performance
status & quality of life as per the questionnaire improved.
We demonstrated a clinical benefit of high dose intravenous vitamin C in anemia of chronic diseases
even though a small study. We recommend to perform a randomized controlled study with larger
sample in a future.